Sunday, December 24: Tig’s Rock Birthdays

Remembering Motorhead mainman Lemmy Kilmister today (Dec. 24) on what would have been his 72nd birthday. Other rock birthdays today include former Thin Lizzy keyboardist Darren Wharton (55).

Darren Wharton/Youtube

Lemmy Kilmister is the singer, bassist and founder of Motorhead. The band was formed in 1975 and were known as one of the early bands of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement of the late 1970’s and early 1980’s. They are best known for the 1980 song “Ace of Spades”.

Lemmy was plagued by health problems in recent years which has resulted in frequent concert cancellations. The band’s latest studio album Bad Magic was released on the UDR label in 2015. He died four days after his 70th birthday on Dec. 28. 2015 from prostate cancer, congestive heart failure, and cardiac arrhythmia. If you’ve never seen the documentary Lemmy, you must see it! It’s an interesting look into the life of this hard rockin’ legend with cameos from Dave Grohl, Slash, Ozzy, Metallica and many more.
I once got kicked out of a Motorhead show for underage drinking. I did the ol' borrow your buddy's wristband routine but ended up putting it on the wrong wrist. While I was raising my beer in the air, a security guard grabbed my arm and asked for ID. Obviously I could not produce an ID and was quickly tossed out of the venue. Those were the days. Check out a holiday classic from Lemmy below: